No new announcements by Kovind
President Kovind offered nothing new in his traditional address to the joint session of Parliament in the first sitting in the New Year as he rather opted to confine himself to list the Modi govt’s achievements and policies in the last year and condemned the violence in Delhi on the Republic Day. Focus of his address was on India's ‘atmanirbharta’ (self-reliance).
His address sounded like the government has done all it had to do and now it is time for it to focus on implementation of various policies, programmes and projects.
The entire Opposition boycotted his address to express a solidarity with the farmers struggling on Delhi borders for over 9 weeks for repeal of the farm laws enacted in September, but some sneaked in to create repeated ruckus during his speech.
Punjab’s Congress MP Ravneet Singh Bittu raised slogans in the Central Hall while Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) MP Hanuman Beniwal, who withdrew support to the ruling NDA to back the farmers, flashed a placard and raised slogans against the government on the issue of the farm laws, while AAP MPs, led by Sanjay Singh, raised slogans from the Central Hall's entrance after the security blocked their entry. FARMERS: The President lauded the farmers for strengthening self-reliance in agriculture and referred to various efforts of the government to improve the life of the farmer, especially small and marginal farmers owning just 1-2 hectares and constituting over 80% of 10 crore farmers in the country.
Listing out the government’s plethora of help to the farmers, Kovind referred to the three laws, describing them as important farm reforms and claiming Parliament approved them "after extensive consultation." He claimed benefits of the farm reforms have started reaching over 10 crore small farmers instantly. There was a mix-up in his figures as in a paragraph, he claimed over 10 crore farmers in the country and in another gave small farmers’ strength as 10 crore. Kovind asserted "discussions over the farm reforms (were held) in every part of the country for 2 decades and the demand for the forums at different fora were reflected during the deliberations in the House." Stressing the govt has been making efforts to dispel the misunderstanding created, he admitted the SC has stayed the implementation of the laws. "My government respects the decision of the apex court and shall abide by it."
To enhance the profitability of agriculture, the government is also placing emphasis on creating modern agricultural infrastructure by starting Rs1-lakh crore agriculture infrastructure fund. He also referred to over 100 Kisan Rails started in 2020 to enable the farmers transport over 38,000 tonnes of food grains, fruits and vegetables. TRICOLOUR’S INSULT: He did not spare a section of the agitating farmers for riots at Red Fort. He said the government always respected freedom of expression and holding of peaceful agitations in a democratic set, but "the recent acts of dishonouring the Tricolour and showing disrespect to the auspicious the RDay are unfortunate. About the Chinese aggression in eastern Ladakh, he said the govt is “vigilant” and more forces have been deployed at the LAC to protect the sovereignty of the country.